Huskers Set for Loaded Field at Silverado Showdown

The Nebraska women’s golf team closes its 2025-26 regular season by facing its toughest field of the season at the Chevron Silverado Showdown in Napa, Calif. (April 6-8).

The three-day, 54-hole event hosted by Colorado on the par 72, 6,146-yard layout of the North Course at the Silverado Resort begins with tee times off No. 1 and No. 10 at 10:30 a.m. (CT) on Monday, April 6. The second round will be played on a similar schedule on Tuesday, April 7, before the tournament concludes Wednesday, April 8 with a shotgun start at 10:30 a.m. (CT).

The loaded 16-team field includes eight top-50 teams, led by No. 2 USC and No. 5 Oregon, along with No. 29 Eastern Michigan, No. 40 CSU Fullerton, No. 46 Oregon State, No. 47 Colorado, No. 49 San Jose State and No. 50 California. A total of 12 top-100 teams fill the field, including No. 66 UC Davis, No. 67 Northern Arizona, No. 76 Nebraska and No. 99 Washington, while Cincinnati, Washington State, CSU Northridge and San Francisco complete the field.

Nebraska is coming off a 10th-place finish at the MountainView Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz. (March 20-22). Freshman Ailis Tribolet tied for 25th at 217 (+) to post her fifth consecutive top-25 finish. She will play out of the top spot in Nebraska’s lineup in California.

The Huskers had their streak of three straight top-five showings snapped in a strong field that featured 13 top-100 teams at MountainView. Hannah Kono continued her solid play by tying for 28th at 218 (+2) and will play out of the No. 2 spot in the Big Red lineup in Napa. The junior from Enkoping, Sweden leads the Huskers with a 72.56 stroke average over 25 rounds this season.

Brooke Bream hopes to play her first competitive rounds of the spring in California. The redshirt senior from Phoenix owns Nebraska’s No. 2 season stroke average (72.75) over eight rounds during the fall. She earned a lineup spot at the Texas Golf Throwdown (Feb. 16-17) but was unable to compete because of illness. She is expected to play out of the No. 3 lineup spot at the Silverado Showdown.

Freshman Kaleigh Babineaux and redshirt junior Symran Shah round out Nebraska’s five-player lineup in California. Babineaux, who had produced six consecutive top-25 finishes before settling for a tie for 50th at MountainView, hopes to climb back up the leader board at the Silverado Resort. She owns a strong 72.96 stroke average over 23 rounds in her first college season.

Chevron Silverado Showdown
Napa, California (Host: Colorado)
Silverado Resort - North Course (Par 72, 6,146 Yards)

Schedule
Monday, April 6 (Round 1) - 10:30 a.m. (CT) - Tee Times
Tuesday, April 7 (Round 2) - 10:30 a.m. (CT) - Tee Times
Wednesday, April 8 (Round 3) - 10:30 a.m. (CT) - Shotgun

Live Scoring: Scoreboard.clippd.com

Participating Teams (16)
California, CSU Fullerton, CSU Northridge, Cincinnati, Colorado, Eastern Michigan, Nebraska, Northern Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State, San Francisco, San Jose State, Southern California, 
UC Davis, Washington, Washington State

Nebraska Lineup (5-count-4)
1. Ailis Tribolet, Fr., Chandler, Arizona
2. Hannah Kono, Jr., Enkoping, Sweden
3. Brooke Bream, RSr., Phoenix, Arizona
4. Kaleigh Babineaux, Fr., Austin, Texas
5. Symran Shah, RJr., Carrollton, Texas

Hall Takes Reins of Husker Program as Nebraska’s Sixth Head Coach

With a proven record of helping aspiring young golfers drastically improve their games, first-year Nebraska Head Coach Breanne Hall inherits a roster filled with nine returning Huskers and one transfer who followed her from Illinois State. However, among the 12 golfers on Nebraska’s roster, nine are in either their first or second seasons as Huskers.

A three-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Hall was named the sixth head coach of the Nebraska women’s golf program on May 15, 2025 after Coach Jeanne Sutherland announced her retirement. Hall won back-to-back MVC Coach-of-the-Year honors at Illinois State in 2024 and 2025. She led the Redbirds to three NCAA Tournament appearances over the past four seasons and was also the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year.

Hall’s 2025 Illinois State team won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 31 strokes before finishing 11th at the NCAA Columbus Regional. In 2024, Illinois State won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 12 strokes with Ali Schrock sharing the tournament title. The Redbirds went on to finish 12th at the NCAA East Lansing Regional.

The Redbirds earned their first conference title under Hall’s direction in 2022 and their first MVC title in a decade, edging Missouri State by one stroke and capping the year with a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Stillwater Regional.

During her time at Illinois State, Hall coached three MVC Golfers of the Year and 15 all-conference selections. Her teams produced the five best single-season scoring averages in school history over the past five years. Prior to taking over the top spot at Illinois State, Hall spent a season recruiting a roster before serving as the head coach for two seasons at UNC Asheville (2016-18). As the first head coach in history of the fledgling program, Hall led UNC Asheville to a pair of tournament titles in the first two seasons of the program’s existence. Her team posted a nine-stroke improvement in scoring average from year one to year two.

Huskers Claim First Team Title Since 2023 in Most Recent Trip to California
Lauren Thiele and Hannah Kono earned top-five finishes to lead six Huskers among the top-16 and power Nebraska to the MSU SoCal Spring Invitational championship in Camarillo (March 8-10). It was NU’s first victory since winning the Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 26-27, 2023).

Thiele produced a career-best even-par 213 to capture runner-up honors on the 5,900-yard layout at Sterling Hills, including a career-best 67 (-4) in the second round.

Kono put together a 68 (-3) in the final round to close at 216 (+3) in a tie for fourth. The Huskers 862 (+10) ran away with the team title by 13 strokes ahead of runner-up Notre Dame (875), while CSU Northridge took third at 880 (+28).

Olivia Lovegrove (T7th, 218), Symran Shah (T10, 219), Ailis Tribolet (T13th, 220) and Kaleigh Babineaux (T16th, 221) all produced top-20 finishes for the Big Red.

Tribolet, Kono, Babineaux Lead Huskers to Runner-Up Finish in Texas
Ailis Tribolet and Hannah Kono both earned top-10 individual finishes to lead Nebraska to a runner-up showing at the 15-team Texas Golf Throwdown (Feb. 16-17).

The Huskers, who finished with a three-round total of 901 (+37) on the 6,311-yard, par-72 layout of The Woodlands Country Club, took second behind Iowa State. The Cyclones closed the tournament at 862 (-2), while Cincinnati took third at 903 (+39).

Tribolet captured seventh individually with a 54-hole total of 219 (+3), including a second-round 71 (-1). Kono finished in a tie for eighth just two strokes back of Tribolet. Kono’s three-round total of 221 included an opening-round 71 (-1).

Kaleigh Babineaux gave Nebraska a third top-25 finisher, closing at 227 (+11) in a tie for 21st. 

Husker All-American Kate Smith Competed on 2025 LPGA Tour
Former Husker Kate Smith-Stroh captured her LPGA Tour Card for the 2025 season by tying for 19th at the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying Stage in Mobile, Ala., Dec. 10, 2024.

Smith-Stroh, an All-American and Big Ten Champion for Nebraska as a fifth-year senior in 2021, put together five solid rounds in Alabama to finish at 350 (-8) with rounds of 69-71-67-72-71 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail - Magnolia Grove to secure a 2025 LPGA Tour Card.

One of the best golfers in Nebraska history, Smith-Stroh competed on the Epson Tour (2022-24). During the 2023 season, she competed in 22 events and made 19 cuts, while recording four top-10 finishes. She tied for second at the Four Winds Invitational. She added 19 events while making 13 cuts in 2024, including two more top-10 finishes.

Smith-Stroh earned nearly $116,000 in her first season on the LPGA Tour, including her first career top-10 finish at the Dow Championship in late June. Her tie for 10th at 265 (-15) over four rounds earned her just over $35,000. She added a tie for 18th at 276 (-12) at The Standard Portland Classic in mid-August to take home $25,000. Overall, she made eight cuts in 17 events.

The native of Detroit Lakes, Minn., was a two-time first-team All-Big Ten picked who stormed to the 2021 Big Ten title with a school-record 64 (-8) in the final round at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio. She was a third-team All-American by Golfweek and an honorable-mention All-American by the WGCA before becoming the first Husker to compete in the Arnold Palmer Cup, helping the United States to a title. She was also the first Husker to compete in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2021.

Huskers Ramp up for Postseason; Hope to Peak at Big Ten Championships
The loaded field the Huskers will face at the Silverado Showdown should prepare them for an intense Big Ten Championship at the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, Calif. (April 24-26).

No. 2 Southern California is the top-ranked team in the Big Ten, while No. 5 Oregon is hot on the heels of the Trojans. No. 14 UCLA and No. 19 Northwestern put four Big Ten teams among the nation’s top 20 as the postseason approaches.

Ohio State (39), Indiana (42), Michigan State (43) put seven Big Ten teams in the top 50, while Purdue (51), Michigan (53), Illinois (55) put 10 conference schools in the top 55.